We can live our lives on the go. Consuming food. But not really nourished.

To be nourished means to receive what we need for growth, for health, for human flourishing.

How do we live deeply nourished lives?

That’s what you’ll learn from my friend Tish Harrison Warren. In her book, The Liturgy of the Ordinary, she helps us become aware of God’s presence in the most surprising ways—including around the table.

So pull up a seat at our table. You don’t want to miss this.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

CONNECT WITH TRISH

Trish’s Website // Twitter
(Use these links to tell Trish how much you appreciate her!)

SPONSOR

If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a seasonal box, with full­size beauty, fitness and lifestyle products. And I just got my second box. It’s got lotion and mascara from Tarte, an adorable jewelry dish, a workout bag and so much more—more than $250 in product!

Check out www.FABFITFUN.com and use the code “JOYCAST” so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99.

In 2008, Robert Wang became the inventor of the Instant Pot—a simpler, safer version of the traditional pressure cooker. This one simple device can do so much: it’s a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute pan, yogurt maker, warming pot, and even bread maker, all-in-one.

If you look at the Amazon reviews, one of the most common words is “love”.

In a medium bowl, combine half of the onion, half the garlic, the ground beef, rice, salt, and pepper and mix with your hands until the rice is evenly distributed throughout the meat; don’t worry about over-mixing. Shape the mixture into 12 evenly sized meatballs, each slightly larger than a golf ball.

Select the saute setting on the Instant Pot and heat olive oil for 1 minute. Add the remaining onion and remaining garlic and saute for about five minutes, until the onion is softened. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and Worcestershire and bring to a simmer. Place meatballs in a single layer in the pot and spoon a little sauce over each one.

Secure the lid and set Pressure Release to Sealing. Press the cancel button to reset the cooking program, then select Pressure Cook or Manual setting and set the cooking time for 15 minutes at high pressure. (The pot will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure before the cooking program begins.)

When the cooking program ends, you can either perform a quick pressure release by moving the Pressure Release to Venting, or you can let the pressure release naturally and leave the pot on the Keep Warm Setting for up to 10 hours.

Serve the meatballs with the sauce spooned on top. Garnish with fresh herbs.

Many of us have experienced the table as a place of inclusion, but all of us know the table can be a place of exclusion. Sometimes, even when surrounded by others, we can feel so alone, so cut off, so rejected.

Yet time and time again throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus going to wild lengths to create tables of inclusivity. You see, inclusivity makes the table a place of joy and helps us taste and see God’s goodness.

She challenges us to expand the settings in our hearts and at our tables to throw the kind of dinner parties that Jesus would—creating places of inclusivity and hospitality where anyone can feel welcome.

So pull up a seat at our table—where all are welcome. You don’t want to miss this.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

SHOW NOTES

RECIPES FROM THE SHOW

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Soften the butter and ice cream in separate bowls. Gradually cream them together and then slowly add flour.
3. The “batter” will be sticky.
4. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a quarter.
5. Indent each cookie with your thumb or spoon and fill the indent with a spoonful of Solo filling.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Bon Appetit!

SPONSOR

If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a seasonal box, with full­size beauty, fitness and lifestyle products. And I just got my second box. It’s got lotion and mascara from Tarte, an adorable jewelry dish, a workout bag and so much more—more than $250 in product!

Check out www.FABFITFUN.com and use the code “JOYCAST” so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99.

Tucked in this interview is some first-to-know news that only those who listen in and subscribe to my e-newsletter will find out first.

You don’t want to miss this.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

Combine the thyme, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper in a mini food processor and process until ground. Combine mixture and oil into a cup.

Place half the lemon slices in a cast-iron skillet. Add onion and garlic. Lay the chicken, skin side down, on top of the onion. Brush with half of the oil-spice mixture. Flip the chicken skin side up and pat it dry with paper towels. Then brush with the rest of the oil and herb mixture.

Roast the chicken for 30 minutes. Pour the wine into the pan (not on the chicken) and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken reaches 160 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the oven, sprinkle it with the lemon juice from remaining lemon slices, cover the skillet tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 1o minutes. Cut the chicken into quarters or eighths, sprinkle with salt, and serve hot with the pan juices, cooked lemon, and onion.

I knew it was going to be dark, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

On the outside, Bangkok is a bustling city, but when the sun goes down, the red-light districts light up.

It’s easy to think this is a problem on the other side of the world, but the streets fill with men from the United States and other western nations.

Western men select women according to the number pinned on their outfit, order sex acts from menus, and throw ping pong balls at the women as if they’re animals. From “secret menus,” the girls they take home can be 12 years old or younger.

My friend, Lori Wilhite, and I traveled half-way around the world into the darkest of the dark.

Lori is the founder of Leading and Loving it—a conference for Pastors’ Wives and Women in Ministry—that I attend every year (it’s soooooo good).

Her husband, Jud Wilhite, Senior Pastor at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, and she’s the author of a beautiful book, My Name is Victorious!

To fully experience the joy of the table, we have got to learn how to work together to rescue others from the cultural slavery of sex trafficking.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

We’re so grateful for the partnership and sponsorship of this important episode: Check out www.FABFITFUN.com and use the code “JOYCAST” so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99. Again, that’s fabfitfun.com and use the code “JOYCAST”.

In the social media age, we are pressured to craft facades of perfection. A perfect life. A perfect job. A perfect wardrobe. A perfect body. In other words, the 21st century is an exceedingly difficult time to nurture vulnerability.

Yet to become vulnerable is to become Christ-like.

The path to vulnerability is not for the faint of heart. It requires sharing things we’d rather not share. Opening up the most tender parts of ourselves to others. And even more frightening…stepping into uncertainty.

Someone who knows and does vulnerability so well is my friend, Jamie Ivey. She’s the author of If You Only Knew, and she points out that guarding our stories and struggles comes at a cost. It’s exhausting.

On the other hand, she says transparency brings freedom.

If you’re someone who struggles to risk, to trust, to allow yourself to be known, you can’t afford to miss this conversation.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

SHOW NOTES

RECIPES FROM THE SHOW

Chicken Zoodle Salsa Soup

This play on the comfort food of chicken noodle is a favorite for us, and super healthy. If there’s a bowl of soup for your kids to get a ton of veggies in their bodies, this is one of them! Not only is this soup good for you, but it’s also super easy, and there are many ways that your kids can help out in the kitchen.

First up is making your soup, and while it’s cooking and making your house smell amazing, whip up some salsa to go in the soup.

1. Slice chicken breast into bite-sized, one-inch pieces. Put pieces into a bowl, add salt and pepper, then stir.
2. In a large stockpot, heat up 2 TB of olive oil, then sauté chicken, chopped onion, and garlic until chicken has browned.
3. Add peppers, carrots, and celery to the pot, and continue cooking.
4. When pepper and celery have softened, add chicken broth and zucchini spirals. If soup needs more water, add more stock or water.
5. Bring soup to a simmer, then cook over medium-low heat for at least an hour.
6. Add the kale about 30 minutes before eating, and add the salsa right before serving.

Now, let’s make the salsa that will give the soup a beautifully roasted flavor!

1. If you have a broiler on your oven, turn it on. If not, set the oven to the highest temperature setting.
2. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, olive oil, salt and pepper on a sheet pan. Stir until well coated, then place into oven until heavily charred. (20 minutes or so).
3. Place ingredients into Vitamix or blender, add salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder, and pulse till smooth.
4. Add cilantro and lime juice and pulse gently until incorporated.

When your soup has simmered for at least an hour, and your salsa has been whipped up to perfect, it’s time to combine and enjoy!

Add all the salsa contents into the soup, and stir until blended. Remove from heat.

Serve soup in large bowls then top with yummy condiments like sour cream, chopped cilantro, shredded cheese, and diced onions.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Leave uncovered, and under medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. Boil for 60 minutes until thickened. Best stored in jars. This salsa can be canned and given as gifts.

The table has a way of unmasking us. Revealing our imperfections and woundedness. This tendency challenges us in at least two ways.

First, how do we join a table that should be a place of unity, community, and joy in the midst of our brokenness?

Second, how do we respond with compassion when we encounter someone else’s brokenness?

These questions are unavoidable if we want to experience the joy of the table.

In brokenness, we gather, but in gathering, we are made whole.

I’m thrilled to gather at the table with my friend, Angie Smith. Author of Chasing God, her words and insights… are a feast! Angie is hilarious—and her laugh is contagious.

In one of my favorite parts of the interview, she shares two words you can speak when you feel overwhelmed by the brokenness of life.

I really believe they have the power to set you free.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

SHOW NOTES

RECIPES FROM THE SHOW

Soak Brussel sprouts in water for 20 minutes. Drain. Then drizzle olive oil on brussels sprouts in a bowl. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Bake on 400 degrees for 40-60 minutes until dark on the outside. Serve and tell everyone Angie Smith gave you the recipe.

Jamie is a psychologist who specializes in helping people recover after disaster strikes. He founded the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College.

But what makes Jamie unique is that he doesn’t just research and write about disasters—which, by the way, are becoming more frequent in our world today—but he’s lived them.

Six days after moving to Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina devastated the area. More recently, Jamie endured a vicious battle with stage 4 Colon cancer. This is someone who has paid a heavy price and whose voice needs to be heard.

Some of his counterintuitive insights include: to find hope, be cautious of optimism; when you want help the least is when you need it most; and spiritual surren¬der, rather than a passive act, is instead an act of profound courage.

To fully experience the joy of the table, we have got to learn how to create a safe space for those who are suffering and also learn to discover God in the hard places.

In one of my favorite parts of the interview, Jamie teaches us what to look for when everything seems lost.

So pull up a chair at our table. You don’t want to miss this interview.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast– subscribe using your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

I use Chicago based recording engineer Steve Albini’s approved Midyett Rub recipe. Not only does Albini know his way around the studio-having worked on classic recordings by groups like Nirvana-but also around grill.

Ingredient info: Sumac is widely available at Middle Eastern grocery stores and spice specialty stores (order it from the Chicago-area Spice House chain here). For the pepper, Midyett tries to use freshly ground Tellicherry; for the coffee, he recommends a darker roast, such as Intelligentsia’s Black Cat espresso.

PREPARATION
Combine ingredients and grind as fine as possible. Coat the meat entirely with the resulting blend before cooking.

Michele and I have enjoyed long walks in the foothills of Colorado, and it’s a privilege to call her a friend. She’s a master wordsmith, wise beyond her years, and someone who has experienced the kind of heartbreak and hardship most of us could never imagine.

In this raw interview, she gets real. She gets vulnerable. She describes her own experiences with shame. And how despite all of these obstacles, she has found a way to reclaim the joy that God wants for her when she sits at the table.

Together, we talk about some issues no one talks about.

One of my fave parts of the interview:

Michele offers seven powerful words that you can speak to shatter shame.

{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss The Joycast – subscribe using your favorite podcast app (Itunes, Spotify, Google Play) And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}

One of the most powerful ways you can link arms with Margaret and her ministry is through Patreon. Just a few dollars a month can help Margaret fulfill her artistic calling and change the world! Click here to learn more.